“We are hiding from Russian patrols”: this is how the residents of the annexed areas of Ukraine really live

class=”sc-29f61514-0 dXbCZE”>

The Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk are currently not fully controlled by the Russian military. Nevertheless, Russia annexed the territories at the end of September 2022. President Vladimir Putin, 71, claimed: “This is our historic land and our indigenous people.” The equivalent of about 19 billion francs should flow to the regions – to bring them to a “fully Russian level”.

Residents of the annexed regions now tell Spiegel how their lives have changed since the Russian occupation. A woman from the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar says most people have fled. The elderly in particular are left behind and are forced to accept the Russian passport. Without this they would not receive pensions or social benefits. Likewise, without a passport, there would be no more official jobs.

And it gets even more violent. “If you don’t have a Russian passport, an ambulance won’t come if you lie on the street and die,” the Ukrainian told the newspaper. Kremlin administrator Yevgeny Balitsky announced on state television that from 2024, only Russian citizens will receive medical treatment in the Zaporizhia region.

“It’s total suffocation”

The family from Enerhodar could only survive without a passport as Ukraine continued to send them a salary. Through friends they were able to exchange this for Russian rubles. ‘Living under the radar of the authorities is possible. But it’s total suffocation. When we saw a patrol entering the city, we went to the nearest courtyard and hid,” the Ukrainian recalled.

Escape seemed the only way out. Because her husband refused to sign a contract with a Russian nuclear power plant operator, he was placed on a red list. As a result, the family was unable to escape for about a year and a half. “When his colleagues on the list tried to leave the country, they were stopped at the border,” the Ukrainian said.

In the summer, an acquaintance of the family claimed that there were no more lists at the borders. So the next day we started. At checkpoints, the family told the Russian soldiers that they were going to the sea. “We only packed summer clothes and no household items, so it looked like we were on vacation,” says the Ukrainian. So they reached the Russian border.

There, the family claimed they were visiting friends in Germany and would return soon. “We even promised that we would receive Russian passports immediately upon our return,” the Ukrainian recalls. And so they were allowed to leave the country. We returned to Ukraine via Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Today the family lives in Kiev.

“It feels like we live in Russia”

But not everyone wants to escape. A Ukrainian activist voluntarily moved to the occupied city of Melitopol to maintain his Yellow Ribbon resistance movement. This has now had to go underground, the early 20-year-old told the newspaper. The Russian occupiers would take tough action against activists. According to media reports, Ukrainians in Melitopol have even been kidnapped or abused due to anti-Russian sentiments.

But the resistance does not die. According to the activist, the movement has about 10,000 members. “Our task is to influence the Russians psychologically. We remind them every day that this is not their country, that they cannot feel safe here,” he says.

A Ukrainian retiree from the town of Antrazit near Luhansk sees it differently. She tells the newspaper that joining Russia is ‘a blessing’. Schools, roads, hospitals and heating systems were repaired by the Russians. “You have the feeling that we live like in Russia, everything is so beautiful now,” says the retiree. She accepts without complaint that the lump sum pension paid out by Russia is smaller and amounts to only slightly less than 100 euros per month. (Mrs)

Source: Blick